Groups including T&E, Anyos, Skeleton, Talga, Eies, Vulcan Energy and others have contributed to a letter calling on the EU to agree to carbon footprint rules that can support the development of Europe’s battery value chain.

The groups made the call ahead of the implementation of the EU Battery Booster, which will dedicate up to €3 billion to electric vehicle battery manufacturing, €1.8 billion in funding for battery manufacturers, and an additional €200 million to support innovative battery manufacturing projects across the bloc.

‘A make-or-break moment’

According to the letter, which was penned to Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, and Jessika Roswall, Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience, and a Competitive Circular Economy, the European battery industry is experiencing a ‘true make-or-break moment’, which will require ‘strong policies’ to ensure investment certainty.

‘If gotten right, battery carbon footprint rules can serve as a key lever in this regard, rewarding local manufacturing,’ they state. ‘However, instead, significant delays are leading to stalled investments in Europe, where companies need visibility to take final investment decisions and scale battery factories effectively. In the meantime, blocked negotiations only serve to divide both EU member states and the industry.

‘The key objective of the battery carbon footprint should be to capitalise on the increasingly clean EU grid in order to improve the competitive position of EU battery manufacturing as a whole.’

Low-emission grid

Noting that the EU’s electricity grid is at least a fifth greener than that of China, the groups argue that the carbon footprint rules should take advantage of the emissions profile of the grid, with a methodology based on the EU-wide grid average likely to strengthen the position of domestic manufacturers.

National grid averages, however, would ‘distort the internal market’, while power purchase agreements would weaken the comparative advantage of the EU over other regions, they state.

‘With this in mind, we are calling on Member States and the European Commission to agree to a fair and ambitious compromise that can support the development of Europe’s battery value chain, as soon as possible,’ the letter reads. ‘We, the signatories, propose using the EU electricity grid average as a compromise between all sides, and in support of the wider EU cleantech industrial agenda.’ Read more here and here.

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